LIVERPOOL were dreadful. Liverpool were abject. Liverpool are in the final.
Could stop it there but Robbo likes there to be more words.
Unfortunately there aren’t a ton of them.
Joe Allen’s yellow card deserves a mention. What a yellow card it was. One for the mantlepiece. When we come to give out booking of the season, a long underrated award, then Joe’s will take some beating. Leiva against Spurs is suddenly a lot less secure.
Leiva’s needle was magnificent. Indeed the manager deserves enormous credit for making it. Liverpool were on top at that stage but Leiva was tiring. He got his breather and he read the game very well from back there.
The manager deserves enormous credit for the spirit he has injected into this side. Their focus and attitude is excellent. Remember this when you read the next paragraph.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkptJDMXMG8
The first half approach and selection was dire from the first minute of the half to the last and the manager has to take significant responsibility for that. There is an alarming comparison to be made with last season’s League Cup semi-final if you forget two things:
1. How well we played in the first leg.
2. We are actually in the final.
Over the two legs Liverpool deserve to be in the final. Stoke lacked legs and intensity, which was shown tonight.
Liverpool started the first leg and finished the second significantly the stronger. It all serves as a reminder that this two games a week thing is rock hard and The Reds are better at it than Stoke could be and worse at it than the Manchesters et al.
Match ratings: Liverpool v Stoke City
Liverpool were dreadful. Liverpool were abject. But Liverpool are in the final.
And stop there. Just stop there. Because while this is a review of a football match, there is the bit thereafter. Because The Reds were so happy. They were just so, so happy.
There are cynics for whom these players will never be good enough, never be Liverpool enough, never be their favourite era of pop enough. And there are idealists who want the club to focus on one thing, the absence that hurts more than any other. The big silver thing that always makes me think of the crucifixion. Always makes me think of the crucified Christ.
There are those who have watched too much football. Those who have been round too many blocks.
But The Reds are so happy. We’re so happy. And they’ve been going through this. A right back who plays 105 minutes having not played 45 for over 600 days. A diminutive centre mid substitute who scores the key penalty who too many have pilloried too cheaply.
A goalkeeper who has been all over the show but got a Liverpool moment and wrung the life out of it. A centre mid gone centre half who has been booed on at this ground who has devoted his career to this club who has ran and worked and dived into the crowd for this club. A centre mid gone centre half who is as much one of us as any player can be. A Liverpudlian, pure and simple.
He was, they were, so happy. So, so happy and you can’t begrudge them it. However good they are and tonight they weren’t good, they are entirely committed to Liverpool.
Listen: Immediate post-match reaction on ‘The Pink’ show
They want to win for their manager and their football club and one another and for me and for you. It’s a simple enough notion. It’s a beautiful notion. The only one that works.
They now get to go and do it at Wembley.
Up the dreadful Reds. Up the abject Reds. Up our gorgeous, happy Reds.
Great set of lads.
Great write-up about Lucas, Neil. He always gives 100% for the team…He deserves testimonial match plus a few awards from the city before he retires.
Hope Sturridge, Origi, Phil, Lovren, Skertl are back in.contention by 28th Feb final.
Great to see Lucas devotion to the club and city recognized. The man doesn’t ever give in for either
The ‘I’m gonna actively dislike Jallen’ lads all ultimately lack friends.
Hughes is a bottler btw and there’s a reason City ruthlessly fucked him off to bring in people who can manage players to trophies. That Liverpool team were cat shit and there for the taking tonight and Hughes throws the Leicester game to rest his two best players only to drag them off anyway before the shootout where they would have won it for them.
Mad how we’ve spent £200m in the last 18 months and the only available players at the club who appear to be able to trap a bag of cement are Jallen, Ojo and Teixeira.
This bag of cement comment and the one by the fella who said Ibe wears his IQ on the back of his shirt made me laugh so much tonight. Happy days.
Lucas Leiva epitomes what wearing a red shirt is about……the man who loves Gremio and has had his fair share of knockers and doubters bleeds Liverpool red. The man who dominated yaya toure in his prime is now replacing kolo toure to Marshall r back line…..why….????? Because he ooze’s class…….all together now “His first name is Lucas Lucas his second name is Leiva Leiva…..” You know the rest! COYMR
As has been said, but not often enough, the boy from Brazil is as Scouse as Carra. How many times must he prove himself? How many comebacks before we ask him to stay?
It’s true. Always gives his best. Conducts himself with great dignity. Deserves total respect.
The bit on Lucas brought a tear (or few) to my eye. His passion is unconditional.
Lucas does not have blood running through his vains, he has the waters of the River Mersey that pumping through them.
“The first half approach and selection was dire from the first minute of the half to the last and the manager has to take significant responsibility for that. ”
Interesting, I don’t think he set up much differently to Man Utd and Norwich tbh. He’s a bit hamstrung in the way he can set us up considering his options
Maybe he could’ve had Allen on instead but I think he isn’t starting coz we’re wary of how bad we are at defending set pieces already and don’t want another little lad
Apart from that I really don’t see how the manager could’ve done anything different
Anyhow we’re in the final and that’s all that matters
Yep, we were shite. Midfielders can’t pass the ball forward, strikers can’t run. Bad combination.
What does Joe Allen have to do start?
Is Emre Can the new Jamie Redknapp? 1 good game in 4, slow both in and out of possession and constantly playing the easy backwards ball to put his team mates under pressure instead of taking responsibility with his passing? He has the potential to be better but then again, Jamie always *looked* like a good footballer. He flattered to deceive.
I think we need to put Joeallen’s brain in Can’s body.
Opinions are boss aren’t they Paul, Can the new Jamie R except for Jaimie we have the advantage of hindsight. Can has a few more years yet before he hits his prime, I think Can is starting to ooze class, next season barring injuries this lad is going to start dominating games. He has got all the tools, slow on the turn but everything else is very impressive. I don’t think we have had a midfielder like him, to me I think he is more like the bastard child of Terry Mac and Souness. Let him bed in properly get used to those around him and watch him fly, biggest potential I have seen for a long time…perhaps Wembley will be the game that announces he is the one and only Emre Can. Come on you reds !
Agree.
I hope you’re right. Don’t get the Terry Mac comparison, he’s nothing like him, but at his best Can has a bit of the Souness swagger about him (I made this comparison myself last season myself). Too little end product at the moment, though. If he can get his head up he can become a really good player. He has all the tools. Here’s hoping.
As bad as we were is great to see Lucas and Joe Allen getting the plaudits. But when we’re talking about commitment let’s not forget Sakho who for long periods last night appeared to be defending on his own. He kept us in it at 1-0 with two or three key blocks and challenges.
And his arm waving “COME ON!” to the near silent crowd just before extra time kicked off was amazing. He wanted that win. Brilliant that he did that, awful though that he had to.
Great getting to a final and all is great, that but highlight of the night – by a long way – was the banner for Owen that went up on 12 minutes. Was great hear the round of applause, appreciated from Stoke fans, and seeing Jurgen stood there joining in and clapping, completely forgetting there was a game going on.
Pretty sure that there’s more qualified people than me to comment on what the Spion Kop 1906 lads do before each game but that was truly touching, there were men next no me – proper men – wiping a tear away. Hope the little lad looking down loved it – hope the flag goes to Wembley. Big thanks to all the lads who organise.
Agreed mate. Hope it gets a mention in the wider press too. The nation says what they want about Liverpool fans, but we are the best at just being human beings.
I was furious at the match last night. Until the penalties, of course.
But there is one point, by way of justification for the performances over the last few games: I bet these lads are knackered.
I know, I know, I know….We would all love to be in their position, and would run around at 90mph all day, everyday, if we were doing what they were doing, instead of being sat in this bloody office.
But. We have played a lot of games. We have had a lot of injuries.
And we’ve got to do it all again in a few days time.
Maybe. I was watching a different match but I can’t help feeling that “dreadful” and “abject” are a bit of an over reaction. We certainly weren’t great but we were clearly the better team in the second half of normal time and finished the match stronger than a team generally noted for their strength. Over the 120 minutes, it was a close game with touches of quality from both sides which didn’t quite come off largely because of very committed and strong play without the ball by both teams. Stoke maybe edged it but not by much and the only goal was very clearly offside.
So, no, we weren’t “dreadful” or “abject”. We just weren’t great. Please don’t fall into the trap of so much social media with over the top, hyperbolic, pendulum swings from “we can win the league” one week to “we’re complete rubbish” the next. A bit of perspective please
The most important thing is those lads found a way to drag themselves over the line and win. That’s what winners do. And we WON!
Wholeheartedly agree with this.
The language used is ridiculous tbh. Not just here but the press and even Carra himself should calm down a bit.
Hughes decided to change his normal tactics to exploit our aerial weakness. Jurgen knew this and we defended it well. Not so good going forwarded but then that’s been true all season and no wonder when our best strikers are injured.
We did what we needed to do. That’s all that needs to be said.
Yeah, I didn’t think we were that bad, either. Listening to the Pink, it was like I’d watched a different match. Lord knows we weren’t good, but I thought we were more mediocre than genuinely bad. We were adequate defensively–yes, we gave up some chances, but that happens over 90 minutes against nearly anyone. We didn’t create much, no, but we looked okay in spurts.
3-0 to Watford is abject. West Ham doing a double on us is dire. 6-1 to Stoke is inexcusable. An offside Stoke 1 to a Liverpool 0 isn’t a crisis–maybe Liverpool’s play had something to do with why Stoke were themselves so evidently poor.
That bit about Lucas…….I’m sorry I think I’ve got something in my eye.
Wonderful!
There’s a danger of it becoming like a broken record, but after the guts shown to get last minute goals against Arsenal and Norwich, and then coming through last night – hopefully this helps the players to kick on now. It’s time for the performances to match up to the spirit.
Fantastic!!
We are in a final at Wembley!!
Is there any chance we can stop being so shit though?!
How can we continually be this bad?? I can understand the odd bad performance but we are stringing together bad performances now. It can be terrible to watch.
What does Allen gave to do to get a start and what does Moreno have to do to be dropped?!
God we’re good at penalty shoot outs.
“A diminutive centre mid substitute who scores the key penalty who too many have pilloried too cheaply”. Exactly! Wankers!
I was annoyed against Norwich, I was annoyed last night. In fact I’m always annoyed but now I’m full of joy. Train booked. Can we really win a trophy in Klopp’s first few months in charge?
My annoyance stems from Can starting before my mate. It’s clearly a height issue. I didn’t realise till recently that Can was so tall. He didn’t actually win that many headers though. I kind of think keeping possession would benefit us more and my mate helps there much more than Can.
If anyone hasn’t seen the Darren Farley video from the penalties last night go on his fb page and watch it. His reaction (Brendan’s) was identical to mine.
Thought Lovren did well last night. Thoroughly deserved to be in the middle of every photo, vine and video of the celebration. Top bloke. Love his desire. Glad he’s back.
Germany manager and Liverpool combined means we are invincible in shootouts (touchwood). Probably the two best shootout records club and nation
Great article. I’ve been thinking this a lot lately – the trouble with this team is that you end up (okay, I end up) screaming at them because they just aren’t any good. If it was because they weren’t trying, or didn’t care then I’d feel more justified, but I can only really blame the people who brought them here. Which I do. In the meantime, while we sort that out, let’s win something. The ‘bag of cement’ thing is a good way of putting it. Jallen has a proper footballer’s head on him, as does Lucas. Can has a rock star’s head, and I’m still trying to work out Moreno and Ibe. Let’s just win something eh? We can sort out the team later.
scapegoats for heroes last night
well done Allen, Mignolet and particularly Lucas
No wonder Lucas fronted the lot of the scruffy bastards.
There was a fella behind the goal for the pens, Stoke shirt on stripey bobble hat (stopped wearing them aged 7) trying to put the players off.
Just watch hime grown man behaving like that the blirt.
Stoke must have the highest concentration of biffs in the country.
I work with the linesman from last night, Lee Betts, who never gave that easy offside decision. He came in my office with his tail between his legs a bit sheepish, knowing I was gonna savage him.
“I bet you were relieved the Welsh Xavi saved your arse!” I said. ” I did Everton last weekend and you lot last night and you’ll be pleased to know your death threats are far more vitriolic than the blues” he replied as he shut the door behind him.
If you can’t keep up with play….hand your feckin flag in!
haha..a good one..(but realistically, the match officials are human too..not robots; but EPL offcials ‘re all clean; honest mistakes; unlike some cowboy leagues where the matches seem to be played just for the sake of bookies).